Three years ago, our son and I traveled to Utah to visit two National Parks: Zion and Bryce Canyon. I was so moved by that trip that I promised my wife, Ellen, that we would take a similar trip and we did so last summer. I wrote about the experience of that first trip on my website blog in June, 2022 and spoke about it at length on my podcast.
This was not the first National Park trip our family had taken. We took our kids to Yellowstone and Grand Teton and also have visited several other parks including Yosemite and Denali. This summer, we are planning on spending a few days in Olympic National Park in Washington State. The National Parks are truly jewels and the administration’s threatened budgetary cuts are, to say the least, short-sighted and threaten the future of our nation’s commitment to these parklands.
But, this past week, I read of another decision by the Trump administration which has so deeply upset me and should concern all of us. The New York Times article concerning this decision reports: “The Interior Department plans to remove or cover up all “inappropriate content” at national parks and sites by Sept. 17 and is asking the park visitors to report any “negative” information about past or living Americans, according to internal documents.“
Many of the National Parks relate historical aspects of the parks and now these are subject to censorship if they are deemed to convey “inappropriate content” or if they say anything negative about an aspect of our nation’s history. And, visitors to the parks are invited to report anything they consider to be casting aspersions on any individual or aspect of our history.
This is consistent with the general approach of this administration which considers that we should not judge anything in this nation’s history as being negative. Criticism of policies or attitudes are to be muted. Whether the issue is racism or slavery or any other such matter, any suggestion that this country failed to live up to our stated values in the past is not only discouraged but, in certain situations, punished with loss of jobs or other ramifications.
Our nation is not perfect now and never has been. The United States has made serious errors as has every nation. We can not learn from those mistakes if we aren’t allowed to admit them. If we hide from our history because it may cast our past in a bad light, we are more likely to make those same mistakes again. By erasing the negatives of our past, we are inviting those negatives back into our society.
The beauty of the National Parks can not be denied. But, that is only one aspect of the beauty of this great country. Another is our nation’s ability to be more respectful of all, more inclusive and more compassionate. We have seen this administration’s determination to reverse so many of the efforts that have been taken to ensure this growth. This decision concerning the National Parks is not the most significant of those threats to our values as a nation but it is one that strikes me as particularly meaningful as we continue our plans to visit as many of the parks as we can. We see the parks as attesting to the beauty of our nation, a beauty which goes beyond mountains and waterfalls.
The Trumpian people rewriting history fail to appreciate how multi-layered history is in this country. When we fail to appreciate the layers of those events are, and seek to perceive it from a narrow perspective, then we fail to learn from history. I am reminded of the fact that Donald Trump doesn’t read. This is a well documented fact. He does not appreciate the natural beauty of this nation, it rich diversity (in landscape and people). The value of the land is determined by its price tag. The value of its people is minimal, at best, unless they know how to exploit others for their personal wealth.
Couldn’t agree more.
Thank you, as always, Rabbi!. It is a foolish task the administration is undertaking. Not only is it difficult, if not impossible, to erase all of history, but when the truth does bubble up later—as it eventually almost always does—our children and grandchildren will want to know who kept it from them and why. And they will feel lied to and betrayed; a much worse legacy than the truth about a blemished past.
Great piece once again, Rabbi! We have found ourselves in the A2 Pub Schools Social Studies Dept discussing often how hypocritical this type of undertaking is. For instance, when Confederate statues were removed, or Indigenous Peoples names replaced what places were once referred to, the cry rang out calling these actions “Cancel Culture!” Then what are these present day actions called when they engage in erasure/censorship these names of places, etc.? Aren’t the banning of books “cancel culture?” And on and on… Complete and Egregious double standards.